It's November?

I cannot believe its November already, it still feels like the middle of July when I left home, and there is Christmas things everywhere here already. So confusing, I feel like I might be living on a different planet.

This week felt super long. We continued to teach Hermano Calvache. He is going out of town this week for work to the coast for 15 days so his baptism will have to be pushed back. We started teaching some new people we got a couple references on Sunday and have appt. with all of them this week. On Saturday the Elders had a baptism of the son of Ruth. It was the first baptism I have been to on the mission. He only wanted the missionaries and his family to be there so most of our zone came and the Caza family. Hermana Castillo and I sang, yes sang, more like she was singing and I was humming teach me to walk in the light in Spanish. Elder Neal baptized him and all went as planned. It was awesome to feel the spirit of seeing someone making the covenant of baptism. We got a new ward mission leader; he just got off the mission and is super pumped to help us 6 missionaries.

The Halloween festives began on Friday here. Hermana Castillo and I made breakfast for our entire Zone on Friday morning. We made french toast bacon and of course had tons of fruit. Everyone loved the food and we got to enjoy Halloween morning together. We also had some emergency changes and got some new sisters in our zone, they were in the city of Quito got robbed twice in one week so they sent them to our zone out here in Los Chillos. One is from Lima, Peru and the other from Utah, they are nice.  Ecuador doesn’t really do Halloween they do Day of the Dead November 1st and 2nd. Everyone eats roasted pig and potatoes, lights candles for their families’ graves, puts flowers EVERYWHERE and reflects on them all night at the cemetery. We live about two blocks from the cemetery so you can only imagine the crazy weekend we had. The people we live with dad died when they were all little so they explained all the traditions to us and we even got to share what we believe happens after this life. We drank so much colada morada and wa wa pans, which is the biggest tradition here.
Other than that it has been a great week we are getting later into the transfer and I am savoring every moment with Hermana Castillo, only two more weeks and transfers will be here. I have done a lot of reflecting this week, I have learned to just let go the fact that it pours rain every day, that I feel like I am camping most of the time, that I might be the only blonde in Ecuador and that opening an area is hard. I wish that I could express how important it is to gain your own testimony. It is the most important thing we can gain on this earth. Seeing the humble hearts here except the gospel, makes me so grateful for all that I have been given, so grateful for my house, my family, and most importantly the knowledge I have. Showing my love and serving the people of Ecuador have brought me the most happiness I have ever felt it really is true joy.

I hope you all have a great week; you all are in my prayers and heart

xoxoxo

Hermana Merrill:)